Volcanic Age

Not long after descending Mount Song, someone approached Zhou Xuchuan.

"I am the Gold Phantom from the Hebei Branch."

"Gold Phantom?"

Zhou Xuchuan tilted his head.

The Hebei Branch referred to the first branch of the Valley of Phantoms he had visited, but he didn't remember anyone with that name there.

"The Head Merchant gave me the name."

"Ah!"

Only then did Zhou Xuchuan realize who the Phantom was.

While the Phantoms were all different in age and build, the problem was that he had met so many of them that it was hard to tell them apart.

The only Phantom he could recognize was Little Ghost, who was always by his side.

"What happened?"

Zhou Xuchuan's expression hardened.

He had only attached two Phantoms to Li Yicai to guard him as his hand and foot. Since the Head Merchant had sent one of the two, something had to be off.

The letter that Gold Phantom handed over started with the word "urgent."

***

Before Zhou Xuchuan arrived at the Shaolin Temple.

"Agh!!" Li Yicai screamed as he saw the letter.

"Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest, you stupid bastards!"[1]

Li Yicai's face turned red and blue, his massively pudgy hand moving to the back of his neck.

"What is it, Head Merchant?!" The guard warrior waiting outside called out, running toward him.

"Aghhhh, you thieving little shits!" Li Yicai gritted his teeth, furious.

Thieves, like beggars, were everywhere throughout the Central Plains. The only places they didn't exist were places where people didn't reside.

Even in places where no one lived, they were still present, blocking the roads and trying to steal from others.

That was the kind of people thieves were.

Moreover, while there were thieves who targeted common folk, most targeted merchants.

The amount of merchandise they carried was proportional to the scale they traded, so the things they had in hand usually weren't small. If they took this, they could make a significant profit. They often referred to merchant caravans as a 'big hit' as one successful heist could feed a small to medium-sized bandit group for several years.

Because of the large amount of money at stake, merchant companies often hired wanderers and guards to protect their goods. The same was true for the Gold Will Merchants, especially since their reputation had grown recently, causing even more people to target it.

Even though it had the Gold Will Sword Sect, since it didn't have the history of the other merchant companies, there were many who looked down on it.

As a merchant, no, as someone who was especially obsessed with money among merchants, losses felt even worse than death for Li Yicai.

Even one loss would make it impossible for him to sleep for three days and nights from regret and angst.

That was why he had paid extra attention to his guards.

Fortunately, after the Seven Swords War, thanks to the Gold Will Sword Sect warriors who had fought alongside Zhou Xuchuan on the battlefield, the number of thieves had decreased slightly.

However, that relief had only lasted a short time. Recently, the thieves had begun to swarm in an unusually large number.

At first, he thought that ordinary people had simply come out to steal because it was getting too difficult to make a living, but he was mistaken. It wasn't that there were more thieves.

It was that there was an unusually large number of thieves targeting the Gold Will Merchants.

Since he had an inkling that something was amiss, he investigated.

The Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest, the union of the Nine Water Gangs and the Nine Forest Gangs, stood out.

From the streets to the mountains and river, everything was related to them.

It wasn't just once or twice, either. The entirety of the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest had joined forces to attack them. Thus, the Gold Will Merchants were having a hard time holding on.

As they were active all throughout the Central Plains, their reactions were also slow. Even with the Ten Gale Swordsmen, there was a limit to what they could do.

***

"That's what happened," Li Yicai, who had grown incredibly pale in only a week, said. His smooth skin had become flabby in the short time Zhou Xuchuan hadn't seen him.

There were dark circles under his eyes, and the sharp eyes that were always determined not to miss any profit had grown weak and dull.

"Hmm."

Zhou Xuchuan sighed.

Rushing all the way to Jinan had been worth it. This was clearly a serious situation.

As soon as he arrived, he had gone straight to Li Yicai without even greeting Luo Xiaoyue.

Why are they targeting us?

The Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest. It's not like there wasn't any connection whatsoever.

Still, if there were a bad relationship, it would be with the Mount Hua Sect or the Zhuge Family, not the Gold Will Merchants.

Most importantly, while it had been Zhou Xuchuan himself who had fought against the enemy back then, wasn't it Qiu Feng who had taken the public credit?

That wasn't a reason to persistently target the Gold Will Merchants.

Could it be that they're underestimating the Gold Will Merchants because it's a relatively new company? No, even so, it's a bit much for them to come all the way to Chongqing.

The Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest primarily operated around Chongqing. While they also operated near wherever the Yangtze River flowed, they didn't stray too far from its banks.

However, what was happening now was a little different.

For some reason, they had gone far beyond their dens to plunder the Gold Will Merchants.

Wait, there's no way!

A possibility flashed through his mind.

"Head Merchant, do you remember the person who talked crazy before?"

Li Yicai nodded as if he remembered.

"Ah, you mean the sucker?"

"The sucker?"

"He's come by about fifteen times since that first visit. At first, he gave me ten taels, but as he continued to visit, he doubled what he gave me. However, his request never changed. He kept saying he'd give me control of all the commercial rights in the Central Plains if I agreed to fall under his command."

As Li Yicai spoke, a strange feeling crept over him. His face twisted with disbelief.

At the time, he had just considered the sucker to be some crazy guy. So, he took the money, let the conversation pass, and kicked him out.

"I-is it possible that he's really connected to the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest?"

From his perspective, it was natural not to think too deeply about it.

As the Head Merchant of the Gold Will Merchants, all sorts of strange and crazy people came to visit him.

Some of them had even boasted about their incredible businesses, asking for large investments.

Even though they had given him expensive gifts and waited for some time, those gifts also came with all sorts of strange requests.

As a result, Li Yicai tended to ignore anyone who was not worthy of listening.

A secret envoy sent by Twisted Melody.

Zhou Xuchuan frowned as if he had a headache.

He had been so focused on Vast Gate that he had forgotten that Twisted Melody might have made his move, too.

Considering the Merchant King didn't even pretend to listen to the proposal, he most likely gave up. So, he decided to take it by force.

He remembered that the Dark Heavens Association had completely taken over the Central Plains' merchants and used them as a source of income in his previous life.

Most of the time, they would take over the merchant companies through trade as long as they accepted the proposal, and if they didn't, they would force them to submit.

The reason that the Dark Heavens Association hadn't touched the Gold Will Merchants in Zhou Xuchuan's previous life was that there were plenty of other merchant companies to replace them and that the Gold Will Merchants had been relatively small then.

The Gold Will Merchants had grown in earnest and became famous when the Dark Heavens Association had completed its preparations and began the war. By that point, and during the war, the Dark Heavens Association was so busy that they didn't have time to worry about the Gold Will Merchants.

Whew, this really is a headache. So, they've finally come here. This is completely unexpected.

As Zhou Xuchuan silently pondered, Li Yicai grew more anxious by the minute.

Even for him, it was the first time he had ever seen Zhou Xuchuan make such an expression.

I don't know who might be hidden within the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest.

Not even the bandits had been able to escape the clutches of war.

On the contrary, they had used the war as an opportunity to run wild.

Because of the constant fighting, the number of warriors decreased day by day, and the forces of the murim didn't pay much attention to public security.

The bandits had taken advantage of that gap in security to loot, to the point that they even forced the imperial government to make a move, eventually leading to their destruction.

Everything he knew about them was nothing more than a passing remark compared to the Dark Heavens Association.

Among his memories from his previous life, he only remembered that they had taken advantage of the chaos caused by the war to loot.

It seems as though they were taking advantage of the fact that the Gold Will Merchants were still building up their strength to try to sway them over…

He considered various possibilities, but it was too difficult to be certain of anything.

"Sob, sob, Great Hero. Please talk to me. Is something wrong? Should I make a plan to flee in the middle of the night?"

"Of course not," Zhou Xuchuan replied with a bitter smile, trying to calm him down.

"So, how have you been responding to this?"

"We've increased our escorts. However, since this is happening all over the country, we're short on manpower. That was why we hired Security Agencies or mercenaries. However, as time goes on, the losses keep piling up, putting a serious strain on our budget."

"We need a large-scale operation to suppress them."

"Exactly!"

Li Yicai agreed with Zhou Xuchuan's words with a bright smile.

The most certain solution would be to thoroughly crush the problematic Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest. However, it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"However… It'll be a little difficult for me to help you all that much this time. I can send some warriors to accompany you, Great Hero, but I still have to protect the cargo on each caravan…"

Even the Martial Alliance and the Evil Valley were reluctant to step forward because they felt burdened by the task of clearing out the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest.

If it were something that could have been handled easily, Zhou Xuchuan and Li Yicai wouldn't have been worried in the first place.

"Don't worry, you only have to help me a little. Isn't it because of the difficult circumstances that you asked for my help?"

"Indeed, as expected of the Great Hero! You really can read between the lines! This little merchant is deeply impressed by the Great Hero's heavenly intelligence!"

The Head Merchant rubbed his hands together and smiled, looking like the most villainous villain who only appeared in fairy tales.

Zhou Xuchuan also laughed unpleasantly, giving his favorite little Li Yicai a tired look before falling back into thought.

****

The Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest, a group of bandits operating from Chongqing, spread across the mountains, fields, and rivers—anywhere imaginable.

Most of them were ragtag groups of Third or Second Class warriors, but like the Black Hand's Xia Wu Sect, they made up for their weak strength in numbers.

However, what made them stronger than the Xia Wu Sect was that they had their experts, and some of their Stockade Bosses were experts of the highest level.

To subdue them, Zhou Xuchuan needed more strength.

As he thought about how to assemble a force strong enough to suppress them, the news about what had happened at the Shaolin Temple spread throughout the murim.

"The Prajna Divine Art was returned to the Shaolin Temple?"

"What? Wasn't the Prajna Divine Art a technique that only appeared in legends? Where in the world did they ever find it?"

"I heard that it had been found by accident deep in a mountain valley. Moreover, where it was found isn't important right now."

"I wonder who found it. How could someone not feel greedy when faced with the Divine Art of the Shaolin Temple, which is regarded the headquarters of martial arts? What kind of idiot is he?"

"Zhou Xuchuan!"

"Zhou Xuchuan? You mean the Plum Blossom Order Sword?"

The murim was surprised when they heard Zhou Xuchuan's name again.

Wasn't he the one who ended the war about half a year ago? While he had been living quietly since then, he quickly became famous once again.

Everyone was surprised that one person had accomplished two different feats that were both difficult to achieve in a single lifetime.

"Impressive!"

"He really is a Great Hero, isn't he?!"

He seemed like a hero straight out of a storybook.[2]

Although he had been tired, he had single-handedly defeated an expert as strong as the Flower Scattering Palm and ended the war by burning the Blood Muscle and Tendon Classic.

Not only was he a skilled cultivator, but he also had an impressive background and was known for his handsome appearance.

Now, on top of all that, he had become a benefactor of the Shaolin Temple.

People were both intrigued and excited about him.

That was always the case whenever a new expert, especially a young new expert, emerged in the world, attracting the attention of the murim.

"Even though the Plum Blossom Order Sword is a direct disciple, he doesn't have a high status yet, right?"

"His Master, the Gentle Smiling Swordsman, is said to only work outside the sect and has no position within it."

"So you're saying he has nowhere to advance? What are you doing? Hurry up and prepare the marriage proposals!"

Zhou Xuchuan had been in the spotlight from the beginning, and his popularity now soared to even greater heights.

Some small and medium-sized sects and families placed Zhou Xuchuan as the first candidate for a son-in-law and prepared women of a marriageable age.

Even if he was a direct disciple of a Daoist Sect, marriage was still possible if he didn't have a major position and didn't pass down Mount Hua's lineage and secrets.

"Tsk!"

"What's so great about him? He was just lucky!"

"I heard that he had been given chances when he was young."

"Look at him, acting all high and mighty after getting lucky with an elixir!"

However, not everyone liked him.

Humans were a species where one would be jealous if their cousins were able to buy land. That jealousy was even worse when they watched someone they didn't know doing well for themselves.

"Maybe he took this as an opportunity and purposefully destroyed the Blood Muscle and Tendon Classic…"

Suspicions also arose within the Shaolin Temple. Some of the monks even openly disparaged Zhou Xuchuan.

In this way, Zhou Xuchuan's name continued to spread throughout the Shaolin Temple and across the entire murim.

1. There was no hanja for this earlier, so it was translated as the Eighteen Bandit Gangs. For reference, the Red Forest is a metaphor for the rainy season and thus is formed of the Nine Water Gangs and the Nine Forest Gangs. ☜

2. Wow, you don't say. ☜